Hundreds gather at historic Tulsa church's prayer wall
Source: AP
By PETER SMITH
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Hundreds gathered Monday for an interfaith service dedicating a prayer wall outside historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood on the centennial of the first day of one of the deadliest racist massacres in the nation.
National civil rights leaders, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and William Barber, joined multiple local faith leaders offering prayers and remarks outside the church that was under construction and largely destroyed when a white mob descended on the prosperous Black neighborhood in 1921, burning, killing, looting and leveling a 35-square-block area. Estimates of the death toll range from dozens to 300.
Barber, a civil and economic rights activist, said he was “humbled even to stand on this holy ground.”
“You can kill the people but you cannot kill the voice of the blood.”
People pray during the dedication of a prayer wall at the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Greenwood neighborhood during the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church was largely destroyed when a white mob descended on the prosperous Black neighborhood in 1921, burning, killing, looting and leveling a 35-square-block area. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-race-massacre-centennial-bbfa1f6ad42b104d258c13999a2d7aa4
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(Interfaith leaders at Vernon AME church)
(Rev. Jesse Jackson at dedication of prayer wall)
("Society's Cage" installation at Vernon AME church)
(Oaklawn Cemetery sign announcing future excavation the site associated with the Tulsa Massacre)
